The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Gypsophila plant, botanically known as Gypsophila hybrida, grown commercially as a cut flower, and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘Esm Alicia’.
The new Gypsophila is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in El Quinche, Pichincha, Ecuador. The objective of the breeding program is to create new freely flowering Gypsophila cultivars with many petals per flower and straight stems.
The new Gypsophila originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor in El Quinche, Pichincha, Ecuador in February, 2003 of a proprietary selection of Gypsophila hybrida identified as Line 146, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with a proprietary selection of Gypsophila hybrida identified as Line 31, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The cultivar Esm Alicia was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a flowering plant from within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled environment in El Quinche, Pichincha, Ecuador.
Asexual reproduction of the new Gypsophila by cuttings in a controlled environment in El Quinche, Pichincha, Ecuador since December, 2003, has shown that the unique features of this new Gypsophila are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.